Page:The history and achievements of the Fort Sheridan officers' training camps.djvu/199

 THE FIRST OFFICERS' TRAINING CAMP

���The willingness and eager- ness of the men to learn is another feature of the Camp. It is grim business for which they are pre- paring, and they are going about their preparations for the firing line with a grimness that bodes ill for the adversary.

Up to this time the general rudiments of the training have been along practically the same lines. Beginning next week it is generally understood that a gen- eral shake-up will occur and that from then on the branches of the service w^ill divide. Those who are assigned to Cavalry service will then be given special instruc- tion along that line. The Artillery men w^ill proceed to points desig- nated by the Government for spe- cial instruction in their branch, while the Infantry men w^ill be in- structed in trench fighting, snip- ing, etc. It is generally understood that the engineers will be transferred to points where they can continue their preparatory work with the full use of engineering equipment.

The tabulation of reports from company instructors showing the choice made by every man in Camp as to the arm he would like to enter was completed, and the task of grouping them in accordance with orders of the War Department was begun. These orders provide that there shall be nine companies of infantry, three batteries of field artillery and one troop of cavalry to each of the two provisional regiments — one made up of Illinois and the other of Michigan and Wisconsin men. In addition, each regiment already has its company of engineers.

But one part of the redistribution jumped ahead of the others. One hundred out of 254 men who chose to try for commissions in the Coast Artillery were set aside as the group for this branch and ordered to prepare to leave for a seaboard point where they can be given training with the big guns. Fifty of these men come from each regiment.

The tabulation of the choices made by the candidates shows that both the Field Artillery and the Cavalry were "over-subscribed." The excess probably will be used in infantry.

��WAVING BACK AT THE LAKE

��The tabulation follows:

ILLINOIS MICH.-WISC.

Col. W. J. Nicholson, the Commandant, said he felt sure that the

number to be discharged in the physical tests now going on will not

exceed 3 per cent or about 1 50 men.

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